Review: BREAKOUT SESSION at Cleveland Public Theater

Nikkole Slater, BREAKOUT SESSION (OR FROGORSE), was commissioned in 2020 by CPT, with funding from the National New Play Network (NNPN). It was the intention of funding to have the author write a play that cast a spotlight on racism, bias and violence. Her goal was to ask, "Can a society legislate a change of heart?" It was "inspired by Cleveland's Consent Decree with the U.S. Department of Justice, which required the Police Department to go through anti-bias training."

It is as relevant today as it was several years ago. Maybe more, as the controversy over the Cleveland decree is still in the headlines.

Director Beth Wood, contended back then that "This play is about blind spots due to our unconscious bias." She went on to state, "We all have blind spots and we must interrupt them-but how? How do we know when our automatic associations are hurting other people?"

Raymond Bobgan, the theatre's Executive Artistic Director, at the original opening stated, "To believe another's perspective, there must be trust. How can we build two-way bridges of trust between us with all of our history-with all that's happening in the present? Can society legislate a change of heart? Can we mandate cultural change?"

He went on to state, "Theatre nurtures a hunger for connection and has the potential for greatness when it deals with complexity."

Those views set high levels of anticipation for BREAKOUT SESSION (OR FROGORSE to be a mind-shattering, new and insightful experience.

As I said in my original review, "In spite of a nicely honed production, the over-all effect is unfortunately, not that impactful."

I had hoped that the revival would be improved and be more meaningful than the original rendering.

In the play, we find ourselves in a training session with three Cleveland police people, an African American male and female and a Hispanic male. The session is conducted by a training firm that has hired a Caucasian, with an acting degree, who is supposed to follow a preset lecture/power point presentation. She fails to hold the attention of the trio, so she diverts from the research-oriented, statistic-centric format, much to the consternation of her female African American supervisor.

Conflicts over teaching style, experiential role-plays and activities, and interjections by a "bat scientist," "mantis shrimp," "crocodile magician" and "catfish comedian," are intended to highlight the author's "Bias Bubble" diagram.

The Bias Bubble concept centers on our conscious experiences leading us to social psychological perceptions that we make unconscious associations that lead to judgements, prejudices and beliefs, which evolve into ideas which evoke actions.

Frogorse centers on the concept that two people can see the same incident, or piece of art, and perceive different things. A drawing of a horse may be perceived as a turtle, depending on the angle at which we see it or our pre-conceived attitudes.

Nikkole Salter's use of the concept source of bias is not unique. The idea is commonly espoused in social science literature and been musically expressed in "You've Got to Be Carefully Taught" in SOUTH PACIFIC and "Everyone's a Little Bit Racist" in AVENUE Q.

I wish I could say that Salter has added some new dialogue to the stage in his edit of BREAKOUT SESSION (OR FROGORSE), but she hasn't.

The use of real incidents that led to the consent decree, the showing clearly how the biases develop through actual examples, the effective use of the teaching model to make the audience think of their own experiences, and a plan of action to actually help the police, all would have helped make the experience more meaningful.

As for CPT's production. The cast (Jess Moore, Nicole Sumlin, Joshua McElroy, Tina D. Stump, Joey Florez Jr. and Troian Soo) puts out full effort and are all very believable in their roles.

Beth Wood, doing double duty as director and actress, is outstanding as Sara, the well-meaning but ill-equipped trainer, the white workshop leader, with wonderful intentions, but poor understanding of the reality of prejudice.

As the director she keeps the action zipping along and gets all she can from the problematic script.

The technical aspects, especially the electronic media effects, are well-conceived. Inda Blatch-Gelb's mantis shrimp costume is outstanding.

Capsule judgement: BREAKOUT SESSION (OR FROGORSE) has an important purpose with lofty goals. Unfortunately, the play's format and development do not satisfy the need to truly explain, "something is not working, people" and teach the reality of the "Bias Bubble." I wish that the director had taken the comments from reviews of the first staging and made the necessary changes to make the follow-up performance more meaningful. Both CPT and Salter wasted a marvelous opportunity to make this a really important play! So sad, such a wasted opportunity.

BREAKOUT SESSION (OR FROGORSE), runs through November 12, 2022. For tickets call 216-631-2727 or go on line to http://www.cptonline.org/.

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